Students with disabilities across the united states are not achieving at the same rate as their non-disabled peers. With their flexibility and capacity for innovation, charter schools offer an opportunity to improve these outcomes. However, data from the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), parent focus groups and surveys, and research on schools'…

The field of educational leadership has also come to recognize the central importance of improving the quality of leadership preparation across leaders' careers, including at the doctoral level, for strengthening equitable teaching and learning in schools. What do doctoral programs that strive to realize such equity goals do? With what results? In…

Through a case study of two doctoral programs situated in the United States, this essay highlights how doctoral programs designed to prepare leaders in K-16 institutions and other contexts can be "framed around questions of equity, ethics, and social justice to bring about solutions to complex problems of practice" (CPED, 2016; Buss,…

Four different perspectives--from the director of a scholarship of teaching and learning dialogue forum, the director of a leadership institute, and two undergraduate students--join together to discuss a collaboration in optimizing leadership education at Western Washington University.

Skilled local special education administrators (LSEAs) are difficult to replace. Estimates vary, but about 10-15% of these positions turn over each year. To build necessary skills, individuals need broad opportunities to lead other adults, but high caseloads and funding constraints too often keep future leaders focused instead on direct services…

Amy Morrison Goings was 40 years old in 2013 when she began her presidency at Lake Washington Institute of Technology. She didn't consider herself a representative of all Generation X community college presidents, but as a member of this tight-knit group, she does feel a need to share her insight into what's on the minds of that community.…

This article tries to "put a face" on the complex and abstract process of program change in relation to key principles from the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED). We examine the principles of the "scholarship of practice," "laboratory of practice," and "signature pedagogy" within a…

The Act Six Leadership and Scholarship Initiative is a leadership development and college retention and success program developed by the Northwest Leadership Foundation that provides intensive cohort-based training and support, along with full-tuition, full-need scholarships, to underrepresented urban college students to attend religiously…

The study was an exploration of how participants in lay formation mission and identity programs on three Jesuit higher education campuses understand their experiences of the programs; what competencies were developed as a result of participation; and how the programs helped participants understand the cultural context of Jesuit higher education.…

Superintendents and principals can have a positive and decisive impact on student achievement and higher graduation rates. Their essential leadership can illuminate the path to excellence for faculty and students. In upgrading curriculum and instruction, school leaders need to keep abreast of practices proven effective in other districts and…

A central problem of practice for professional preparation programs--especially those that are well established and have developed a reputation for doing their job successfully--is to take a careful and critical look at their work at periodic intervals. It is too easy to rest on reputation. And it is also easy to ignore the evolving context for…

The "Personnel Development Program to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities" is authorized under Section 662 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and is known as the Personnel Development Program (PDP). The PDP is administered by the U.S. Department of Education's (ED's) Office of Special…

This paper examines how a classroom designed process of constructing narratives about oneself, a group, and others helps students develop an authentic leadership voice. We begin by describing the theoretical framework behind our paper, which includes an overview of the notion of authenticity and the linkage between narrative and authentic…

Superintendent preparation and training has remained substantially unaltered for a half century. State certification requirements drive the content and activities for preparation programs housed in higher education institutions. State agencies never participated in superintendent preparation beyond awarding certification to post master's educators…